Team USA Defense Puts Clamps on Iroquois

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. – Team USA head
coach Richie Meade gathered his group after its 18-5 dismantling of
the Iroquois Nationals and said, "That's the way we want to
play."

Start with the faceoffs, and work your way around the field: the
U.S. defense squashed the Thompson-led offense, goalie Jesse
Schwartzman made timely stops, two-way midfielders controlled
possession and the offense lit it up, with Rob Pannell and Paul
Rabil combining for 10 goals and four assists.

And yet still, when the post-game huddle broke, U.S. assistant
coach Dave Pietramala made sure to remind everyone, "We can be
better." Really?

Pietramala's defense was well-prepared and executed. Close
defenseman Tucker Durkin marked Lyle Thompson, as he did when the
pair matched up against each other in college, and limited him to
two assists. Michael Evans held Miles Thompson in check (three
goals) and Lee Zink blanked crease attackman Cody Jamieson and
rising Syracuse senior Randy Staats when he moved down to attack
from midfield where he started the game. Staats also drew the pole
of Kyle Hartzell when he played midfield.

Durkin used a tough punch check to harass Thompson throughout
the tilt, and got plenty of support from roamers looking to close
in if the ball appeared in a stick longer than a couple seconds.
The Iroquois ended up taking fewer shots (14) than the U.S. scored
goals. Pannell outscored the Nationals by two goals on his own.

"We knew a lot of their dodgers are very good at keeping the
ball in their stick," Durkin said. "We wanted to make sure when we
doubled, we came in hard and we made sure to try to get the ball on
the ground. The biggest thing for us was protecting inside, they
are so good at hitting cutters backside, inside, through the
defense. We wanted to protect the interior of the defense. We
thought that was crucial."

The U.S. didn't watch any tape of past Johns Hopkins-Albany
games in its "bunker," its converted common-room space in the dorms
at Denver University, where the group meets before doing generally
anything, including breaking down film. But they did watch the last
couple Iroquois games here, with Lyle Thompson shifted to
attack.

Team USA goalie Jesse Schwartzman
needed to make only four saves in a 18-5 rout of the Iroquois
Nationals on Tuesday night. (Scott McCall)

"The defense played great," Evans said. "When we did play
defense, we stuck to the game plan. We went over it today and last
night. ... Tucker played him in college and did a phenomenal job
covering him and is familiar with him. And the other guys, our
mentality is a team concept. It was going to be all seven of us out
there, including Jesse [Schwartzman]."

The U.S. goalie only needed to make four saves, but had a few
stops early that erased any possibility of the Nationals building
up early momentum.

"Our goalie was fabulous when he needed to be," Pietramala said.
"Early on, we played excellent defense. As the game progressed we
got a little sloppy and stared off the ball a little bit. But when
you hold a group like this to five goals, it's a good day. A lot of
the credit goes to the guys at the X and the offense end. It was a
good team win, but we can improve on that mark defensively. I think
we can be better than that."

Watching from the offensive end of the field, Pannell looked at
Zink, the top defenseman on the Denver Outlaws, Durkin, a MLL
rookie of the year candidate last season, and Evans, a perennial
all-pro, and saw what had been a nightmare to go against in the
U.S. tryout process turn into a dream as the world championships
have unfolded.

The U.S. has put up a lot of impressive numbers, but allowing an
average of 4.6 goals in five pool play games is a pretty good one.
They held Canada scoreless for more than 30 minutes in the
tournament opener Thursday night.

"It's every guy I go against in the MLL on one team," Pannell
said. "It's a nightmare for me. That makes them better, it makes me
better, and it makes our offense better. If we can score on our
defense, we know we'll be able to have success against anyone. I'm
fortunate that I'm watching them play now and not playing against
them. They've been great."

Notes and Quotes

Short-stick defensive midfielder Dan Burns, nursing a tweaked
groin injured during the Japan game, played the first possession of
the game, but was sidelined the rest of the way. Kyle Harrison, who
had been held out of the previous two games as a precautionary
measure, saw more time at defensive midfield, with starter Matt
Abbott and Mitch Belisle, who has bumped between long- and
short-stick defense throughout the tournament. Burns could have
played if needed, Pietramala said.

"He's OK," he said. "The good thing is we got Harrison back. The
plan was to use him a little bit more. Mitch Belisle has been a
blessing. We can use him in a lot of different roles. With Danny,
Kyle, Mitch and Matt we got four short-sticks we can rotate
through, or we can put Mitch down low and play three
short-sticks."

Iroquois coach Steve Beville agreed with Meade's assessment of
Team USA: "The U.S. played like they were supposed to. They are
incredibly well-coached. They are big, strong, fast, can shoot it.
They won all the faceoffs. The biggest key to whole thing was
Schwartzman early. He saved everything early. They are outstanding
defensively in every way as well. They have outstanding individual
defenseman and their coaching staff has them playing really, really
good help out defense. You combine incredibly athletic guys with
great coaching and great help-out, they are playing as a team. You
put all those things together, and it makes it incredibly
impressive."